Author: Lisa Werner

I’ve started writing down single words each day that summarize how I feel about each stop we make. I can’t wait to put them into a word cloud and see how it all shakes out. This place is awe-inspiring, and just the thought of walking where there are no footprints ahead of you is such an unbelievable experience. Then I like to think about how quickly our footprints will disappear with the wind and snow- like we were never there.

Today we had my favorite landing so far (although if you asked me about the previous landings, I probably would say the same thing!). We cruised through an area called the Lemaire Channel, which was unbelievable. The mountains on either side of the ship made a person feel so tiny and insignificant. The icebergs we saw were bigger than houses and the truest glacier blue yet. They have been carved into incredible pieces of artwork by wind and the ocean. After cruising through this magical dream land, we got to our landing spot. There were choices as far as what we could do, and I chose the long hike. We hiked up the side of a hill (I’d call it a mountain, but it was pretty flat compared to the mountains all around us). At the top of the hill was a cairn. Sailors in the past would leave messages in the cairn in order to let others know that they had made it to this spot and where they were headed next, in case anyone was looking for them. The view from the top of this point took my breath away. It was a 360 degree panorama of pure, raw Antarctic beauty. I have incredible pictures, but I can guarantee that none of them do the view justice.

After this amazing excursion, it was off to our next site. For this landing, I chose to do a guided photo walk. Most of my pictures are on my camera, but I did do some with my phone as well. In Antarctica, the only thing that can touch the ground are your feet and your hiking pole tips. You may never crouch, sit, or say anything down on the ground, so changing camera lenses is very cumbersome. To get around this, I bring my telephoto lens on my camera, and use my iPhone for the other pictures. This stop was particularly beautiful due to the fact it was snowing. Since we were on a photo walk with National Geographic photographers, they taught us how to play around with our camera shutter speeds to capture the snow in the pictures. It was fun, and I look forward to analyzing what I shot on that walk!

Now we turned the ship around and went through the Lemaire Channel again. Our ship is one of the few that can go through this tight channel, and I spent some time on the bridge watching the officers navigate it by hand. It is not done with autopilot! We got treated to seeing many humpbacks on our return trek.

My roommate and I were invited to the special dinner tonight (all guests get this experience, but we are divided into small groups for each night). The menu was a culinary tour of explorer Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. It was so delicious and such a fun event.

While we were at dinner, our ship arrived at Palmer Station, an American research base. I was geeking out about being able to see this! One of our naturalists is working on a project at Palmer, so the ship stopped here so he could check on his project.

Tomorrow is our last day in Antarctica before we start the long journey north. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us tomorrow!

I am really running out of adjectives to describe Antarctica. I guess the best way to describe it is beyond your wildest dreams. I spent months watching every documentary that my library system had, along with every YouTubers’ videos, and read every book on the area I could get my hands on. Although I love surprises, I needed to know as much as possible about what I was going to see in order to prepare the students I teach for what I thought I might experience. Even armed with all of that knowledge, I am still in awe of what I see each day. The fact that this trip takes place over Thanksgiving is pretty fitting because I’ve spent the entire expedition filled with gratitude to the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship program for allowing me to have this opportunity. I am also very grateful that I have such a supportive family that supported me in the months leading up to this, as well as the voyage itself. And then there’s my school- without my principal’s support in letting me go, the students being willing to experience new things in class, great friends of mine subbing for me while the students prepare for our quickly-approaching Christmas concert, and fantastic colleagues supporting the crazy ideas I come up with to involve the students in, none of this would be possible. That’s sometimes the weird thing about participating in programs like this – I get to do amazing things, but there are so many people doing work behind the scenes to help make it successful. This is why I work so hard to include everyone in the experience that I can. It’s my responsibility to make sure they all get a chance to be involved in each experience!

So, today we got to visit two more Antarctic landings. The first one involved our ship driving right up onto sea ice. We had what one of the naturalists called a ‘biblical moment,’ as we were walking on water. We got to snowshoe all the way around this sea ice. The views were unbelievable, and my Wisconsin was showing, as I had to take off both of my coats during this adventure. I pulled out my portable weather station (because I’m a weather nerd!!!), and it was reading that it was 60 degrees (after having it monitoring for over 10 minutes!). When I got back to a naturalist, I asked her about this, as it was snowing, and that doesn’t happen when it’s 60 degrees out. After she translated my Fahrenheit reading to what the rest of the world uses, she radioed the ship bridge and they said it was 2 degrees Celsius. I’m guessing my body heat after snowshoeing for the last hour was radiating enough heat for my weather station to pick that up. I know the weather station works, as I’ve used it back home and compared the readings. Crazy, huh?

After the first stop in Wilhelmina Bay, we moved on to Cuverville Island. As we transited, the Captain paused the journey for a bit as we watched a lot of killer whales swimming on all sides of the ship. For this moment, you’re stuck with a picture of my picture on my camera:

When we reached Cuverville Island, we got to hike around, with the option to climb the cliff for an outstanding view of the icebergs and penguin colonies. Cuverville Island is home to the biggest Gentoo Penguin colony, so we got to really watch the gentoos and their mating and nesting habits. The penguins made me laugh when they fight, as they use their wings to flap at each other. You can hear the sounds of that combined with the squawking of the disagreement. I made videos and sound recordings of that, and I can’t wait to share those with the students- they’re definitely going to laugh!

I did do the optional climb, and it was steep and slippery, but the view was breathtaking. There was a fog over half of the mountains, which created a very moody effect. It was so worth all the work to get up there.

After the climb, we got a zodiac cruise of the icebergs around our ship. On the cruise, we got to see a Weddell Seal. These icebergs on this cruise were my absolute favorite. Their shapes were all eroded in some way by water or wind, and it made every iceberg look like a delicate sculpture, despite the size of the icebergs being so massive!

We got to stop at the “Viking Zodiac” for hot chocolate! Checking out the icebergs with a nice cup of hot chocolate in my hands was such a fantastic moment!

After we got back to the ship, had our daily recap, and enjoyed our preview of tomorrow’s expedition plan, we went up to celebrate Thanksgiving prepared by the Swedish, Mexican, and Filipino cook staff (they all found it funny to share that with us). It was super fun to celebrate an American holiday in an international way.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and food! ❤️ I wore my dance mom shirt from Kay’s Academy of Dance as I thought of my family all day today.

Today started with another wonderful Antarctic adventure. We are finishing up the East side of the Antarctic peninsula, before heading to the West side of the peninsula. I signed up for a Contemplation Cruise- we got into a zodiac and cruised around the giant icebergs. These icebergs are bigger than an IKEA store, according to our naturalist guide.

We got to a nice tranquil spot, stopped the zodiac and then had the opportunity to draw or paint with watercolors in a sketchbook. This did prove difficult, as it is very windy, but we all managed to create some pretty great art. We watched penguins enter and leave the water. We watched our ship reposition a few times due to the strong winds. It was really a great outing.

After this outing, we headed back out through Iceberg Alley. Sometimes it was foggy, other times it was really windy. And then we started to hit the roughest seas we’ve seen. Currently the winds are gusting up to 50 knots, with 12 foot seas. It’s going to be a rough travel night, but we’re told it will get better after 10 pm tonight.

In other non-Antarctic scenery news, I got to present about the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship and the students I teach. The wooden coins were a hit! I can’t wait to see how many people scan the QR code and add their song that reminds them of home.

Tomorrow we will have two different landings, so I can’t wait to see where we go next!

My internet connectivity isn’t always the greatest, so I thought I’d use this blog post to answer some of the questions I’ve gotten from Facebook and from the students I teach (they all made a list of questions for me, along with some quests to complete).

Logan asked what music I’m listening to throughout this Antarctica adventure. It was actually funny because up until this point, I hadn’t even realized that I hadn’t been listening to anything. They play light jazz in the dining hall frequently, and I noticed that, but I’ve been soaking in the sounds of Antarctica itself. However, leading up to the trip, I had made a whole Antarctic playlist with music such as Ralph Vaughn Williams’s “Sinfonia Antarctica,” and other music inspired by or written in Antarctica. One of the naturalists aboard our ship just told me about an album I need to check out- apparently a man named Adam Young has a whole album of music devoted to Shackleton’s journey in Antarctica. I’m looking forward to finding that one when the Internet is more stable.

Emily asked if I played my trombone for the penguins, or if it would scare them away. I did get the chance to play on the same very large piece of ice as penguins, but I did not get very close to them. I did not want to scare them away or make them angry, in case they prefer other instruments over the trombone! I did learn that penguins have a larynx and a syrinx, allowing them to create two pitches (or frequencies, for you science types) at the same time within their calls. I’m pretty sure that means the penguins would think they were superior to my trombone, even if I did play with multiphonics.

I had a few students ask why penguins waddle, and I thought the reason was anatomical – they don’t have knees. Well, I was wrong- the penguins waddle as it is a way to conserve energy. Scientists say that waddling is 80% efficient vs the 60% efficiency rating of human walking. Guess I’m going to start waddling everywhere! In all seriousness though, penguins can have to travel long distances to get between their nesting sites and food, so conserving energy is of vital importance to them.

Emma S wanted to know how many penguins I’d see, and we have been very lucky to see 4 kinds. The Gentoo and Adelie penguins are very common around here, so those are to be expected to see in the areas we’ve traveled. We were lucky enough to take advantage of good weather and make a landing where there was a Chinstrap Penguin colony, which made me happy because these guys are the ones that always look like they’re smiling! Then we got to see the rare penguin in the Emperor visit we got yesterday.

Kaden had a very interesting question for me to find out – he wanted to know how long penguins sleep for. I’m so glad he asked this question, as the answer is CRAZY. The naturalists here told me that scientists studying penguins believe they take as many as 15,000 (yes, you read that right) naps PER DAY. Penguins will settle into a deep sleep that lasts for only 3-5 SECONDS. That blew my mind!

Alice wanted to know how many people are on the ship. We have 114 passengers, and 102 crew, for a total of 216 people. I think to the students this will sound like a lot, but it’s really not!

I also got a question about how fast icebergs move. The answer to this is complicated, because it all depends on many factors- size of the iceberg, wind speed and direction, and ocean current.

On to the quest side of things- I have taken a picture of an iceberg, hung out in the ship’s pool (or hot tub, in my case), took a picture of a melting glacier, recorded video of penguins gliding in the snow (might be one of my favorites), took many pictures in Ushuaia and of the water by the ship, and touched the water to find it how cold it is. I have also tasted the water (yuck), saw an elephant seal and did Jaylen Waddle’s touchdown waddle with penguins. Bonus: since so many students are huge Messi fans, I took a picture of the soccer star’s mural in Buenos Aires.

Though I still have many things left in the quest, and quite a few answers to find yet, I’m crossing off quite a few each day! Feel free to leave your questions for me, too! I’ll still be doing an end of the day blog, but I didn’t want to forget to start sharing the answers to the questions as I’ve gone along!

Today we woke up to the sound of our ship crunching through an ice sheet! While visions of the Titanic quickly flashed through my head, I got up to see all of the fun.

We ate breakfast and were told today was kayaking day. For those of you who know me, you know I’m not particularly comfortable with water. However, my roommate is a huge kayaker, and I decided to give it a go. I am so glad that I did. The water was the most gorgeous shade of blue, and the ice was the cleanest, purest white you can imagine. We kayaked around the edge of an ice sheet, and were joined in our journey by penguins porpoising past us. It was so calm and beautiful that I didn’t want it to end. I was able to dip my water testing samples into the water, so I have great data on the salinity, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen in this area that I can analyze later. I had chills the entire time I was in the kayak, not because of the temperature here (a warm-feeling 27 degrees), but because of the pure, undisturbed beauty of the area. To think of how few people are able to have this experience filled me with gratitude and an even greater desire to share this experience with as many people as possible.

We came in for lunch, and then went to a talk on penguins. However, our talk kept getting interrupted because there were incredible wildlife spottings. Our expedition leader told us he was a little jealous, because it took him 2 years of sailing to Antarctica to finally see an Emperor Penguin, and we all got to see many Emperor Penguins today after only 2 days in Antarctica! We all definitely picked up on how special it was, as the staff and crew were just as excited as we were.

After the Penguin talk, we got to go out for a hike on the ice sheet. This was pretty incredible, as there was just flat white ice up to the horizon. We got to get closer to the Emperors, which was amazing, and then we hiked on 6 feet of ice that was resting on 150 meters of water. Also, with less wind during this time, I didn’t even need my coat zippered since the sun felt so warm.

We all came back aboard the ship for our expedition daily recap, followed by dinner. While this took place, the ship transited to a new location on the ice sheet. We then were able to go on a night hike during the beautiful never-ending sunset.

If this wasn’t already a special enough day, a couple got married on the ice sheet during our night hike. The best part? I got to be their wedding band. That’s right- me and my purple trombone played “Here Comes the Bride” as the processional, and “The Wedding March” for the recessional. I’m going to guess there have been less than a handful of people who have ever played the trombone on an ice sheet in Antarctica, but now my name can be added to the list. And how cool is it that I got to make music for a couple starting their journey together at the bottom of the world?

As you all know, music brings people together. I got to meet so many more people because I was holding a trombone in public today. So many people shared their favorite music making stories or asked me to play them something, You should have seen how the sight of a purple trombone brings a smile to so many people’s faces!

I really want to tell everyone what I did today, but I’m having a hard time finding the words! This experience feels like the kind you watch on TV, rather than experience live. I never would have thought that I would step foot on the continent of Antarctica, but yet that’s exactly what I did today…twice!

We started out with a morning landing right after breakfast. This stop was an island (Barrientos) in the South Shetland Islands. Looking back on it, it was great to have the first one out of the way, because there is a rather involved process to leave the ship. First, there are several layers of clothes to put on. The temperature was nice, 31 degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind was gusting to 47 knots. All of my northern US friends know about the delights of wind chill, so you can imagine how cold that felt. Once we have on all of our layers, we then go down to the bottom level of the ship, called Base Camp, where we check out of the ship and put on our waterproof pants, big boots, and life vests. After you are sufficiently dressed for the weather and have all of your camera straps and life vest straps all twisted up around your neck while trying to prevent your hat from sliding down while you put the hood of your jacket on, it is time to clean your boots before loading into a zodiac (black rubber boat with a motor).

The ship’s crew does a great job of getting us all ready and loaded, but the rest of us were struggling a little- dropping gloves, misplacing buffs, getting tangled in camera straps, etc. For my teacher friends, it’s like the first day of helping elementary students get ready for a snowy recess. For those of you who don’t live that life, just imagine 20-30 adults flinging winter outerwear everywhere!

I know the students I teach are very interested in how I layer up, and I’ll probably take a video later of the process, but today I wore a silk base layer (top and bottom), a turtle neck, tshirt, 2 pairs of socks, and waterproof pants underneath the outerwear they provide us (waterproof snow pants, double layer coat). I also wore a hat, fleece buff, and gloves. It was perfect.

Ok, so back to our first landing. I got in the zodiac, and we went through a bay area. As soon as we got to the landing, there were clusters of nesting penguins everywhere. There were coned off areas for us to walk around and explore, and we got to observe Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins nesting. The Chinstrap Penguins are called that because they have a black line that looks like a smile. They are the most rowdy of the penguins, at least so far.

Gentoos were much calmer…until a sneaky Gentoo would attempt to steal a stone from another penguin’s nest. Then, a ruckus would come. And for those of you who are really curious, I have recordings of both penguins’ sounds. I just can’t add them here on the mobile blog app.

On our return zodiac trip to our ship, we got to see a Weddell seal and an elephant seal on the beach.

Once back aboard, it was time for the ship to transit to the next stop. We got a briefing on how to take great smartphone pictures, the history of ice, and the importance of krill. My roommate Jacqueline and I also hit the outside hot tub, as the students requested this for my Antarctic bucket list. It was very cold getting into the jacuzzi, and ridiculously cold after getting out, but the time inside was great, as it is an infinity tub, meaning the whole outer side of the tub was clear, offering us great views while we submerged as much of our bodies as possible! We then hit the sauna to dry off.

During the afternoon hours, we went through an area known as Iceberg Alley, and this was incredible. My pictures do not do it justice, but there were icebergs of every size and shape, gleaming bright white in the sun. It was incredibly awe-inspiring.

After we had dinner tonight, we got to go out to our next landing spot. Jacqueline and I thought we were getting better at gearing up, but don’t ask us how many times we almost left our room without something important. 😂

This landing was on the Antarctic Peninsula, in a spot referred to as Brown Bluff. It featured Gentoo and Adelie Penguins, and I guess you could say I saw a penguin or two…

The landing wasn’t a long one, due to some penguin mortality that we needed to stay away from (we have to be incredibly careful of the risk of spreading aviary flu), so we took some pictures and then got a sunset zodiac cruise around the massive penguin colony and gorgeous icebergs! It was incredible to set foot on Antarctica today, but the zodiac cruise was my favorite! The sky was gorgeous, penguins were porpoising in and out of the water on either side of us, and the color of the icebergs made the moment.

I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!!! There’s hope that the ship gets to break through some sea ice (don’t worry; it’s made to do this!)!!!

Addendum: we are already navigating through some ice – I’ve made a video, but my internet connectivity isn’t strong enough for me to upload. I also recorded those sounds! Also, it’s almost midnight, and this is still what the sky looks like (sunset was at 10:30 or so)!

Today was all about transit. We are on our way to Antarctica from Ushuaia. So far, it’s been about like the Pacific Ocean was for my NOAA Teacher at Sea experience- not super smooth, but definitely not as bad as I imagined it would be. It’s very nice to have a ship that has stabilizers, and isn’t built like a bathtub (how the NOAA corpsmen said the NOAA ship I was on handled!). Some people onboard have been getting seasick, but it hasn’t been a problem at all for me. I did take my Dramamine beforehand, but I don’t think I actually needed it. Better safe than sorry, though!

The theme for the day was briefings. We got instructed on how to load the zodiac boats for our Antarctic landings, and how to prevent introducing biological material into Antarctica unintentionally. We also learned about the sea birds of the area and how to tell a story of the place that we are visiting through the pictures we will take.

Jacqueline and I did some bird watching off the back deck, and we saw fin whales as well!

The weather today was sometimes sunny, but for the most part it was cloudy. We just had our briefing on tomorrow’s tentative plan, and it sounds like we’re coming in early, thanks to making great time through the seas today. We will see land tomorrow morning, and be on it by 8:15 am! Then there’s a storm coming in, so we’re going to transit to a new spot and have another landing after dinner (taking advantage of the long southern summer sunlight). This means tomorrow I should have pictures from Antarctica in this blog!!!!! We have already made it into what they call Biological Antarctica, which is where the ocean water drops drastically in temperature and the marine life takes on Antarctic qualities (like surviving mostly on krill).

The waves and winds are getting higher again now (30 knots) and we just finished dinner, so we’re going to get our layers ready and get to bed for the early wake-up call! I can’t wait to see Antarctica with my own eyes after 9 months of reading, studying, and watching every documentary I could get my hands on about this continent!!!

Today we had an early wake-up call this morning so we could get ready to head south. After eating breakfast, we got on a bus to take us to the airport for our charter flight to Ushuaia. It was weird thinking that this was my last day on land for a bit.

When we got to the airport, we went through security. It was a little different than back home- they did not mind that we had water in our water bottles, but were much pickier about lithium ion batteries and electronics.

Once it was time for our plane to leave, we left the terminal in a bus to load the plane on the tarmac. It was beautiful weather and I tried to soak up the warmth for as long as I could! On the plane, it was just those of us going to the ship, so we could spread out. Landing in Ushuaia was the absolute most beautiful trip to an airport I’d ever had. You come in with the Andes Mountains on either side of the plane and you follow the water in. The water is that gorgeous aquamarine color of the Caribbean when the sun hits it. There was snow on the Andes, and the wind hits you coming off both sides of the mountains, so it is a wobbly landing for the last few minutes.

After we landed and collected our checked bags, we got on a bus for a city tour. It was fun to see all of the beautiful buildings and learn more about the town. We were told things were getting compressed time-wise because our ship to Antarctica is leaving earlier tonight, as a storm is due in.

After the tour, we all boarded a catamaran for lunch and a tour. The city tour guide told us that they can see 3 seasons in one day in Ushuaia, and we got a feel for that. It was sunny and warm when we boarded, but quickly turned to rain, followed by wind, and then we even saw a few snow flakes. We got to see some birds nesting, and the beautiful Lapatai Bay. The area is surrounded by the country of Chile – Ushuaia is on an island south of mainland Argentina, and is bordered on all sides by the country of Chile. The people of Ushuaia cannot get to Argentina by vehicle without driving through Chile first. I found that really interesting, and they said it makes living here expensive, as all goods have to go through Chile to make it here.

After the catamaran cruise, we boarded our ship, and they got underway almost immediately. Jacqueline and I met with one of the naturalists on the ship and she gave us a quick tour of the ship, along with helping us get sized for our parkas, pants, and boots. This ship is gorgeous. I’ve never been on a ship quite like this. Stay tuned for a ship tour in a future blog. It’s truly going to be a great place to reflect on all of the epic adventures we’re about to have- so many beautiful spots to sit and look out windows!

So, we are officially underway. We are told that there are some 40-knot winds coming, and because we’ll be close to land at that time still, the waves are going to be “messy.” They recommended taking motion sickness medicine, and promised it would get better farther into the journey south. They also said that what we are about to experience (3-4 meter seas), and that is a ‘good’ crossing for the Drake Passage- it’s not what they call the “Drake Lake” (super smooth), but it’s also not the “Drake Shake” (nasty crossing). Seems like the best we can hope for!

I have made it to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is the start of my expedition! I went from Milwaukee, WI to Dallas-Fort Worth, met up with my wonderful friend and Limitless Space Institute Educator roomie for life Lauren, and then got on another plane from Dallas to Buenos Aires. That flight was a long 9 1/2 hour flight, but there were several incredible views as we came in over the Pacific Ocean into Chile during the earlier morning time period. The Andes are beautiful, and now I want to go to Chile, too!!

Once in Buenos Aires, I did the customs/immigration thing uneventfully, and waited for the shuttle to our hotel. The international airport in Buenos Aires had a lot of American restaurants- MacDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, and an Outback Steakhouse. Good thing I don’t need to eat at the airport, as I’d much prefer to eat local foods!

I don’t think I could ever drive in Argentina – our guide said that they have inherited the Italian influence in their driving with lots of traffic, and I noticed many lanes with people driving in between the lanes from time to time, too!

After checking into the hotel and dropping off my bags, we embarked on a city tour of Buenos Aires. We got to see the underground tunnels of El Zanjon De Granados, the government buildings (including where Eva Perron addressed the people from a balcony), and walked through the cemetery that houses Eva Perron’s mausoleum.

We learned that Buenos Aires has a longer name – Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre, and was shortened to Buenos Aires over time. This means “Fair Winds,” because sailors wanted fair winds for their journey to and from Buenos Aires. Seems like a very fitting place to start an expedition to Antarctica! Let’s hope we have fair winds, too!

After that, it was time for our welcome reception, with the briefing for tomorrow. Then my roommate Jacqueline and I walked around the area by our hotel. It is along the river, and had a lot going on! I can cross off seeing the Argentine Tango in Argentina from my list, as we got to see a street performance! I found a bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, and it reminded me of the Milwaukee Art Museum!

We have a 5:50 am wake-up call for our flight to Ushuaia tomorrow, so it’s time for bed!